Brandt Snedeker wins RBC Canadian Open

Brandt Snedeker celebrates winning the 2013 RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Ont., Sunday, July 28, 2013.

Photograph by: Aaron Lynett
, THE CANADIAN PRESS

OAKVILLE, Ont. — He saw more sand than a toddler at the beach, once had to relocate a felled tree that was next to his golf ball, and needed a sudden collapse from the man who had just tied him for the lead, but Brandt Snedeker outlasted a surprisingly resilient Glen Abbey Golf Club to win the RBC Canadian Open.

“I’m ecstatic,” said Snedeker, who added he had always wanted to win this tournament for his caddy, Scott Vail, who is from nearby Oshawa.

Snedeker began the day with a one-shot lead at 14-under and was rarely sharp over his final round, but the 32-year-old from Nashville scrambled just enough — with only 12 putts through his first 10 holes — to keep the field at bay.

Fellow American Dustin Johnson tied him at 15-under with a birdie on his 16th hole, but then promptly hit a drive out of bounds on the 17th that was last seen travelling in the general direction of Brampton. After Johnson made triple-bogey, Snedeker made a birdie of his own on the 16th, out of a greenside bunker, giving him a 16-under total and three-shot lead that he nursed home for his sixth career PGA Tour victory and second win this season. He finished with 272.

“I was able to make some key putts when I needed to,” said Snedeker. “I was able to survive, which is what you needed to do out here.”

Snedeker’s round was not without its adventures. He only hit seven fairways and 11 greens in regulation on Sunday, and on the par-3 12th hole hit a tee shot into the cabbage to the right of the green that saw his ball end up in front of a dead tree. He was able to move the log and hacked out for an eventual bogey. Playing partner David Lingmerth wasn’t so lucky, making a triple bogey from roughly the same spot and never threatening the lead again.

“We had to do a little operation in there,” Snedeker said, smiling. It was like the children’s board game — Operation — that requires the player to delicately remove items from a patient, without touching the sides of the game board, he said. “My caddie and I were going back to our six- and seven-year-old days,” he said. They had to move the log, but if the ball had been even slightly displaced, Snedeker would have incurred a penalty. “We kept the disaster away,” he said.

With winds having picked up on a course that had yielded several rounds below 65 over the tournament’s first three days, no one near the top of the leaderboard did better than Snedeker’s closing 70 on Sunday. Only William McGirt, who started his round five shots back of the lead, managed a 68 to finish in a tie for second place with Johnson, Matt Kuchar and Jason Bohn, all with 275 totals. The latter two played in the penultimate group and shot matching 71s. Glen Abbey played more than two strokes tougher on Sunday than Saturday’s rain-softened round.

“Today was by far the hardest day,” said Kuchar. “The wind was strong and coming from a different direction.”

After an up-and-down from a greenside bunker for a birdie on the par-5 second hole, Snedeker’s round looked to be in danger of derailment when he missed a seven-foot putt for par on the 6th hole. But he responded with a 25-foot birdie putt on the next hole — “that was huge,” he said after his round — and after a short birdie make on the 10th hole looked to have the tournament easily in hand, until the misfire on the 12th.

Johnson rode birdies on Glen Abbey’s first three par-5s to tie Snedeker before his disastrous swing on the 17th tee. The native of South Carolina, who is compiling an uneasy history of Sunday calamities, said he simply blocked his 3-wood and lost the ball well to the right. His triple bogey also included two shots from a fairway bunker.

David Hearn of Brantford, Ont. finished as the low Canadian with 4-under 284, shooting 73 on Sunday to finish in a tie for 44th. Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont. shot 72 to finish with a 3-under 285, tied for 49th position. Roger Sloan, a native of Calgary now living in B.C. finished with 2-under 286 after finishing with an even-par 72 Sunday. One of the pre-tournament Canadian favourites, Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask., missed the cut.

Hunter Mahan, who led the tournament at 13-under after two rounds but withdrew about an hour before his Saturday tee time because his wife, Kandi, went into early labour, announced on Sunday that a baby girl, Zoe, was born to the first-time parents early that morning.

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